I am in Goa just testing out the new Penn Slammer III fishing reel, which was recently brought out by Penn as an upgrade over the previous Slammer ( which was discontinued a few years ago).

I have the model 5500 on an 11 ft Shimano rod, for beach fishing.

I make no bones about it, it is a heavy reel and one feels tired after making continuous casts with this outfit. However, the reel is built like a tank and it will handle just about any fish from the beach that you will find in Goan waters.

It has solid internal gears and a powerful drag which will not let you down. Furthermore, it has been severely sand tested by a leading US angler and also been subjected to water dunking .... it has sailed through these tests.

If I were to rethink the situation, I would prefer a lighter 9 or 9 1/2 ft rod with a size 4500 Slammer IIIfor my beach fishing. Younger and fitter anglers need not worry as they can easily handle the heavier setup.

The reel is not quite as smooth as the Penn Clash and I personally dislike the gaudy gold handle/knob.However, an EVA knob comes included with the reel so that I can easily switch these .

Overall, a nice sturdy reel, built heavy to take punishment and also able to handle the harsher beach conditions.

Pictures below.

Kingfish

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How is your fishing and your experience with the Saragossa, now that you have had it for a while?

Kingfish

Saragossa is a gem of a reel. No issues so far. Still with the same smoothness as day one.I have accidentally dropped it in sand couple of times, but a rinse with water has taken care.It is more than one and a half years since i bought it, and the need to open it has not raised so far even after dunking in surf.Planning to buy on in 6000 size.

Just got the 4500 Slammer 3 after a lot of searching and waiting but it was worth it.

First impressions are of a solid reel, yet relatively light weight in the hands despite the all metal body.It spins a bit tighter compared to the Daiwa 4500BG SW but that is to be expected because it has a lot of sealing to keep out the water.

Lovely 6.2:1 ratio for fast spinning of lures for speedsters such as tuna and other fish that like to chase fast running prey.

The drag is rated at 30lbs ! and the washers are of the new type, formerly used by Penn on their conventional (casting) reels.

This reel is used by kayakers who go out in rough waters where the reels get a thorough soaking and there seem to be no negatives from them, so it should be good for us land based anglers on the beach or in open boats.

Penn give a spare handle knob made of EVA material if one wishes to change the gold metal handle, handy in very cold weather or I suppose in the hot Indian sun!

The jump from the 4500 size to the 5500 size in this reel is pronounced in terms of weight ( 416 gram vs. 616 grams ) and I really feel Penn should bring out a 5000 size to bridge the gap.

See some pictures below.

Kingfish

Last edited by kingfish on Wed May 17, 2017 4:11 pm, edited 3 times in total.

The Saltiga and Stella were very specifically designed to tackle very large GT and have the stopping power in a reef/rocky terrain. I remember many of my fishing mates who used to "try" to catch for these large GTs with the best reels available then could not stop these beasts and they just took you down to the rocks and cut you off. Besides the drags, it was also other parts on these reels that failed. The Saltiga and Stella were specifically "over engineered" to tackle these fish and in-spite of this you can look up several GT sites where even these reels have occasionally failed. So I have my doubts that the slammer would stand this test, having said this, I have not used the slammer so I am not really in a position to judge.

You are correct, the Saltiga and Stella's are over engineered so that they can put the hurt on GTs andlarge yellowfin tuna etc.

I believe some anglers are using the larger sized Slammer IIIs ( size 7500) to catch heavy yellowfin tuna in Panama and also to catch GTs ( called Jack Crevalle in those parts) in the Pacific Ocean region.

However, since the Slammer III has only been released about a year ago , the jury is still out on how long these reels will last if fished regularly for large, strong fighting fish.

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